The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Institute for Ethics is directed by Anne Simpson, M.D. It was founded in 2002 under the leadership of Laura Weiss Roberts, M.D. The institute serves as a resource for ethics in health care and research at the institutional, local, regional, national and international levels. The Institute for Ethics has three domains of activity: Education, Service, and Scholarship.
The Institute for Ethics brings together faculty, staff, students and community colleagues who are interested in ethical issues affecting health, health care, and health-related research. The aim of the Institute is to bring together the resources of the University in an effort to help improve the lives and health of New Mexicans. The Institute for Ethics will develop innovative educational programs, clinical services, and valuable knowledge that we hope will translate to a meaningful difference in our community.
The Institute for Ethics maintains a focus on special populations, including
people who are seriously physically and mentally ill children, elders,
ethnic minorities and underserved groups. By giving our careful attention to
special populations, we will be able to develop clinical and research
practices and policies that are more respectful, attuned, and responsive to
their needs. Through such work, we will also be able to help health care
professionals, researchers, and policy-makers who are struggling with
similar issues across diverse communities.
According to Dr. David Bennahum, Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine
at the UNM School of Medicine and Scholar in Residence at the Institute
for Ethics says that the Institute for Ethics can have a significant impact
on the health care of patients, the training of health professionals, and
research in the Health Sciences. "We will face difficult issues on how to
protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients, how to train research
scientists and clinicians to be sensitive to the fears and needs of people
of different cultures, and how to encourage students to acquire and use a
knowledge of biomedical ethics. The coordination of the efforts of the
members of the Biomedical Ethics Committee and the Institute, as well
as researchers and teachers in the health sciences is vitally important
in this age of complex medical technology, knowledge discovered about
the human genome, and the ever present threat of biological terrorism."
The Institute benefits from the expertise of faculty and staff with varied educational foundations, clinical training, teaching experiences, and ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Our faculty, staff and trainees have expertise in medicine, social and clinical psychology, philosophy, public health, theology, scientific design, cross-cultural studies, sociology, education, and qualitative and quantitative research methods.
